My reception of the CC art style basically runs the full gamut of possible reactions; love parts of it, am indifferent to others, and am inspired to loathing by still others. One of the more brilliant ideas for the character design was to have Lynx be virtually the only character clad stylishly in black, who was not brimming otherwise with chromatic . . . effervescence, I guess. Even Guile (preordained to be viewed as a somewhat "darker" character than most) does not seek to challenge Lynx's design. Viper is the only one with a remotely comparable style, if memory serves, but Lynx has a considerably more imposing height, and his uniqueness makes him easily the most recognizable figure on the screen, when he is there.

On an overall basis, the designs show an extremely creative array of hairstyles; beyond the similarities in length that must appear in a collection more than forty individuals large, no two characters are quite alike. Doc and Pierre are about as analogous as you get, as far as I can tell.

The gold mask was not all that useful for its intended concealing purposes, but Guile's clothing style was appropriately distinct from all others in its flowing abilities, which rule when traversing the "Ancient Dragon's Fort" areas, with all the close-up and angle shots. I prefer Serge's design to Crono's by a good margin, Kid's was a nice streamlined design, which works extremely well for second position in the party . . .

Steena was awesome, and Riddel, Karsh, Glenn, and Viper all made traversing the world map interesting in their way. I have no particular issues with Radius, Sprigg, or Zappa, but then we get indefensibly stupid. Starky and Van piss me off at a mere glance, and anyone from Pip to Funguy, Draggy to Greco, Skelly to Poshul, etc. should never have been included. It is further enraging that the inclusion of these worthless, meaningless little characters is partly responsible for the absence of Magus' presence -- one of the game's most damaging flaws.